Old Yeller
by The Smoose
Summary: Tony's never seen Old Yeller. Pepper corrects this.


So yeah, here's the 'Old Yeller' plot bunny that spewed out after watching, you guessed it, 'Old Yeller'. Gotta say though, didn't cry half as much as I thought I might. Tony is pretty much emoting me in this.

P.S. If you haven't seen Old Yeller, **MAJOR SPOILERS.

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"Sir, I believe Miss Potts requires your help." Jarvis' voice broke through the silent calm of Tony's workshop, but Tony barely batted an eyelid.

"What does she want?" he asked from where he lay underneath his Spyder.

"I don't know Sir," Jarvis said. "She's crying quite heavily and her heart rate has risen."

"What?" Tony's head jerked up and connected bluntly with the fuel pipe. "Son of a- where is she Jarvis?" he kicked himself out from under the car and sat up on his trolley once he was clear.

"Miss Potts is currently in the living room Sir." Jarvis answered. Tony rushed towards the door of the workshop and threw himself up the stairs.

"Pepper!" he shouted when he reached the ground floor. Pepper jumped out of her skin and turned around on the couch she was sitting on, tears streaming down her face.

"Tony? What-"

"Jeez Pep, what happened?" Tony walked over to her and sat next to her. She scrunched her eyebrows together.

"What?" she wiped a tear away.

"You're crying, Pepper." He pointed out.

"Oh." She smiled and laughed softly. "I'm fine, I was just watching a movie." She picked up the remote and paused the footage on the flat screen in front of them.

Tony stared at her. "Pepper, you look like someone just died."

She laughed again. "It's 'Old Yeller', Tony, what did you expect me to look like?"

"'Old Yeller'? That's the one with the dog, right?"

Pepper stopped laughing.

"Tony, haven't you ever seen 'Old Yeller'?" she asked him incredulously.

Tony shook his head and Pepper gaped at him. "Oh my...how the hell have you made it this far in life without seeing it?"

Tony shrugged and sat next to her. "Is it any good?"

Pepper made an unbelieving noise and re-wound the movie to the beginning. "I guarantee that by the end of this you'll be blubbing your eyes out."

"Yaaaaay." Tony said sarcastically.

* * *

The movie was nearly over, and Pepper was plastered to Tony's side, sobbing silently into his shoulder. Travis and his father were discussing life and death, and so far Tony hadn't even so much as looked close to tearing up. Pepper took a shuddering breath as the duo on screen walked back to the house and Tony nudged her with the arm he had wrapped around her.

"You ok?" he asked when she looked up at him. Her mascara was streaming down her cheeks and her eyes were red.

"How the hell have you not cried yet?" she croaked. Tony shrugged again.

"I'll admit, it's a sad movie, I just don't cry easy." He said.

Pepper shook her head, turned back to the screen and snuggled into his side more. "You're made of stone."

"Gold titanium-"

"Shut up." she interrupted him. "It's nearly over. Aww, look at the little guy." She smiled when Little Yeller appeared on screen, dragging a hunk of meat larger than himself out of the house.

"Cute." Tony admitted as Travis picked the puppy up and argued when his father said it was too young to learn anything.

"_He's big enough to learn if he's big enough to act like Old Yeller."_

The back of Tony's eyes began to burn, his throat started to close and he exhaled sharply through his nose. Tears escaped from the corners of his eyes and he hurried to wipe them away, but Pepper noticed.

"That you cry at?" she asked. "Let me get this straight, you didn't cry when he got injured by the bores, you didn't cry when he got rabies, you didn't even cry when he got shot, but you cry at the mere mention of the puppy acting like his Dad?"

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed through his mouth as more tears bid for freedom. He made an odd squeaking noise as the credits started and Pepper rolled her eyes, reaching for the remote to turn the movie off.

"You're such a girl." She muttered.

_The End._

* * *

So this was pretty much my reaction to the film, cos yeah, I did well up throughout the film, but I only _really _started crying when Travis compared the pup to his Daddy.


End file.
